Controlling Finger Movements of a 3D Printed Humanoid Hand to Grasp Cylindrical and Spherical Objects

The article presents an original design of a 3D printed humanoid hand with modular fingers. The mechanical design, hardware and software for its control are described. The working space of the fingers is geometrically determined. Different strategies for gripping spherical and cylindrical objects are presented and analyzed. The gripping methods are classified according to the contact points and the number of fingers involved. Experiments on gripping objects have been performed, on the basis of which is developed software for controlling the fingers for gripping spherical and cylindrical objects. The obtained results are discussed in order to improve the mechanical and control systems of the prototype.